The Doors: Riders on the Storm Meaning

Song Released: 1971

Riders on the Storm Lyrics

Riders on the storm
Riders on the storm
Into this house were born
Into this world were thrown
Like a dog without a bone
An actor out on loan
Riders on the storm

Theres a killer on the road
His brain is squirmin like a toad
Take a long...

1. anonymous

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   May 12th 2011 !⃝

   this song has a menaing far beyond anything that the human mind can comprehend smoke 4 joints and take 4 tabs of acid then listen it'll come to you in time...
2. anonymous

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   May 4th 2011 !⃝

   Riders on the storm is the lyrical form of a film Jim had in mind about a hitchhiker in the dessert who murders a family that picked him up. Jim's own made film "HGWY" is a bit the movie version of it. There was a film made int the seventies or eighties that was called "The hitchhiker" staring Rutger Hauer wich has the same theme as the song and Jim's movie. This could also be a coïnsident.
3. anonymous

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   May 4th 2011 !⃝

   Riders on the storm is the lyrical form of a film Jim had in mind about a hitchhiker in the dessert who murders a family that picked him up. Jim's own made film "HGWY" is a bit the movie version of it. There was a film made int the seventies or eighties that was called "The hitchhiker" staring Rutger Hauer wich has the same theme as the song and Jim's movie. This could also be a coïnsident.
4. Sun King

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   Apr 21st 2011 !⃝

   I think it about being free and the downs and ups of it.
5. anonymous

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   Apr 17th 2011 !⃝

   The song is about picking up a hitchhiker and he kills the driver and steals his wallet, then going to his home and going after his family.
6. anonymous

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   Mar 2nd 2011 !⃝

   The killer on the road is a hurricane he saw the destruction of in his childhood.
7. dogsivu

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   Sep 16th 2010 !⃝

   I agree with anonymous, it's about his addictions (the storm). Heroin and alcohol are his "killer on the road" - But I think the "take a long holiday - let your children play" means taking a trip - his brain is squirming (jonesing) - if you cave in to the jones, the killer on the road, you lose your memory, your talent etc.. and in the end he is begging for his girlfriend to make him understand... as if she could fix him or help him.
8. anonymous

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   Sep 12th 2010 !⃝

   There is some tie-in to Vietnam. His father was a high ranking air force officer in Vietnam (just imagine the conversations at the family dinner table ). The storm being Nam and the riders being the soldiers. That's my 2 cents but I heard this more than once
9. Tyler77

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   Jul 20th 2010 !⃝

   The song is a road trip fantasy of Jim Morrison's. He was obsessed with death and wondered what it would be like to kill someone (not having gone to Vietnam he did not have this experience as many others of his generation did). On the 'American Prayer' album there is a version of this track in which he can be heard making a phone call. He is saying that he killed someone, but he doesn't think anyone will find out about it. The killer on the road was inspired by an actual case of a hitch-hiker who murdered the people who picked him up.
   
   The song has an amazing dark cinematic feel and perfectly evokes the feeling of driving on empty roads late at night.
10. anonymous

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    May 25th 2010 !⃝

    To fully understand this song(or any of his song for that matter) we would need to have known him. Poets and writers include metaphors in their work to represent significant things or occasions in their lifetime.
    At the time that L.A. Woman was released Jim Morrison was so far gone into drugs that he felt there was no return. To me, this song is a statement of repent and a warning. He warns us, "if you give this man a ride/sweet memory will die". I believe that the man he is talking about represents the temptation of drug usage. "Take a long holiday/ let your children play". I feel like this line is him feeling like he needs to take a break from all the drugs and alcohol he's been consuming but he can't do it by himself because he's become addicted to it. Therefore, he needs his woman (Pam) to help him overcome it. "take him by the hand/make him understand." He is reaching out to Pam with his poetry. Maybe his ego was too big to admit that he needed help and used his poetry to unleash his feelings.(like he did on all his songs). Those are two cents...
11. beege

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    Apr 26th 2010 !⃝

    this song is based on one of rimbraud's pems. i dnt know what the name of it is i'll have to get back to you on that.. but the killer on the road is actually refering to himself,. when he first ran away from school and went to florida with his grandparents his mind and thoughts were goin crazy. he was a killer on the road in his own mind
12. anonymous

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    Oct 17th 2009 !⃝

    "Into this world we're thrown" is a direct reference to the philosophy of Martin Heidegger. "Thrownness", as Heidegger terms it, is used to describe human being's lack of agency in terms of existence. Dasein does not choose to exist, it is "thrown" into existence, into a referential totality of meaning that is always already in place. Coming to terms with "thrownness" is accepting the finitude of existence. That is where Morrison's going with this particular concept.It fits in well with the song "The End" as reflective of Morrison's recognition of death as being the closure of Dasein's possibilities and the inevitable end.
13. JasmineStar

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    Aug 11th 2009 !⃝

    I agree with those who suggest the "killer on the road" is to do with the car accident Jim is said to have witnessed as child. Some say the native american passing over stepped into Jim's body at that time, and that the lyrics we here are those of the native american shaman. Others might say that Jim became a voice at times for the person killed in the road accident. The message does seem to be about loving your family, enjoying and appreciating life, and to "ride" the storms that life sends you, but be careful of dangers and stay strong. The song has shamanic undertones, not just because of the lyrics, the wind in the background and the sense of going on an internal as well as an external journey reflect this.
14. anonymous

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    Jul 23rd 2008 !⃝

    The "killer on the road" is about Billy Cook who killed a family when they picked him up hitchhiking
15. rockfacts

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    Feb 1st 2008 !⃝

    A man can become a killer without a strong woman and love.

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